Hi, First let me start out by saying this is in no way an attempt to identify the Conneaut mystery gull. It is however meant to be instructive in how photoshop can be used to to give good side by side comparisons of features. I have posted a composite image here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/haans42/7297429564/in/photostream This uses the Slaty-backed Gull picture from its Wikipedia article and a photo by my friend Frank Buck of the mystery gull. I picked the Wikipedia image because it seemed to be a good match to Frank's image in both lighting and posture. Also because everyone agreed the Conneaut bird was the size of a typical Slaty-backed Gull and much smaller than a typical Greater Black-backed Gull. The top row shows overall coloration and structure. The first thing that strikes me is how close the mantles are. This shows the absolute need to have comparisons combined with references as in the image I posted yesterday. It defies imagination that anyone could accurately judge theses shades of gray from the picture of the individual by itself or even a Herring or Ring-billed Gull. Second the overall structure of both birds, proportions, leg length etc are very similar. The Conneaut individual looks a little more bulky. Its head is a different shape from the SBGU as well. The second row concentrates on the head and here we see how the eye structures are completely different. The Conneaut bird has a much smaller eye. The third row compares bill shape and structure. With the Slaty Backed below the Conneaut gull. I heard from several self proclaimed "experts" outside of this forum that the bill structure was all wrong and was that of a Greater Black-backed Gulls blah blah blah. I think this image shows that claim is utter nonsense as the size proportion and shape are nearly identical. For all I know a GBBG matches as well but I wanted to show in comparison to Slaty-backed. This was a fun little exercise that took maybe 30 minutes. I did something similar last fall to show the Ross's Goose found by Jerry Talkington, at Ashtabula, was indeed a Ross's and not the same individual as in the more widely circulated photos of a white goose on the water I wish there was more of this. It is both instructive and creates solid evidence rather than useless banter about what people think. I could have also included pictures of wing tips and patterns of white, (which do not match at all) but I think this effectively conveys the idea of what I would consider good evidence in these sorts of discussions. Haans Petruschke Kirtland ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]